Advance With Courage

The majority of women are amazing, but Ishbel Hamilton-Gordon was even more than most.  She was born Isabel Maria Marjoribanks (pronounced Marshbanks, though I can’t imagine why) in 1857 England, to very wealthy parents. (I’ve used the Marjoribanks family motto as the title for this essay but think it would also make a great tattoo!)   She split her time between her parents’ homes in Scotland and London, but preferred the freedom that their mansion in the Scottish Highlands offered.  Who wouldn’t?  Although Isabel had taught herself to read at the age of 3 (which by anyone’s standards shows aptitude) her father refused to let her to go to university when she got to that stage, because she was a girl.  She was kept at home, schooled by private teachers, and excelled as much as was possible. 

When she was 20, she married John Hamilton-Gordon, the 7th Earl of Aberdeen, and they had 4 children.  John was in politics and the Hamilton-Gordons spent their time in London or at their place in Aberdeen.  Isabel became very involved the community and set up a teaching program for the poor and the servant classes in Aberdeen to encourage their abilities, thereby broadening their opportunities.  From there she designed a series of courses ranging from geography and literature to domestic sciences that could be completed through the mail.  The student base expanded to thousands of servant class students from all over. 

She also changed her name from Isabel to Ishbel.  I’m as surprised as you.   

Her charity work and relentless campaigning for women in both Scotland and England, while her husband bounced around through his political postings, eventually wore them both out by 1890, so they did the only sensible thing.  They packed up the family and headed to Canada for an extended vacation! 

They travelled to all of the posh cities and were welcomed by numerous political and socially prominent people.  Then they jumped on the train and took it all the way out to Vancouver and back, stopping at many of the small Prairie towns along the way.  By the time they’d made it back to Winnipeg, Ishbel was already working on plans to set up a literary program, eventually named the Aberdeen Association for Distribution of Good Literature to Settlers in the West. Its mandate was to regularly send books to the pioneers who were struggling to make their way in this young country.

They also bought a ranch in Kelowna, British Columbia, rather than picking up a souvenir mug. 

A year later, the Hamilton-Gordons purchased the 13,000-acre Coldwater Ranch from Mr. Forbes Vernon in what we now call Vernon, and between this ranch and the one in Kelowna, they sparked the beginning of the commercial fruit growing industry in the Okanagan Valley.  Mind you, the Hamilton-Gordons didn’t actually LIVE in Canada—they just bought the farms and oversaw operations from Britain. 

That is until John was given the post of Governor General of Canada by the British government in 1893 and they moved to Ottawa.  Once in Canada, Ishbel affably held social and political events in the city, using them to further her contact list and sympathizers. She and John also made their way throughout the entire country, eagerly talking and listening to people so that they could offer the government ideas of how to better serve the needs of their own citizens.  

One of those needs was for better healthcare away from hospitals.  Lady Aberdeen (as she was known) realized that people were dying because they couldn’t get to a hospital and that sick women and children had to be left alone on their homesteads for days while their husbands or fathers went to get help for them.  Ishbel had heard these sorts of grim stories through the National Council of Women of Canada, an organization that she had set up very soon after arriving in Canada (and which is still in operation).  Through the NCWC she was able to table the idea of organizing a service of nurses who would regularly visit remote areas throughout the country and also set up ‘cottage’ hospitals/clinics in order to bring healthcare to the people, instead of expecting the people to make their way to the hospitals.  Eventually this service would be called the Victorian Order of Nurses, or the VONs.

John Hamilton-Gordon would only be the Governor General of Canada for 5 years but during that time, in addition to setting up the NCWC and the VON, Ishbel also sponsored the newly formed Women’s Art Association of Canada, started an inner-city charity called the May Court Club (which would spread to several Ontario cities and still serves today), strengthened her literature programs across the prairies, became a confidante of Prime Minister Laurier, and was the first woman in Canada to ever be given an honorary degree (from Queens), among other achievements.  In 5 years! 

In tribute to the well-respected Ishbel Hamilton-Gordon, at the end of her husband’s term in office, members of the Senate and the House of Commons presented her with a unique 204-piece dinner set as a parting gift.  They had all chipped in and paid for it themselves.  Each piece of china had been hand painted by members of the Women’s Art Association of Canada, which Ishbel had helped to form.  (This gorgeous set is named the Canadian Historical Dinner Set, if you want to look it up.)   

The Hamilton-Gordons weren’t done yet.  They would go on to do the same type of work in Ireland while John was posted there for 11 years as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.  They later retired to Scotland where they continued to be very supportive of social change and of promoting women’s issues.  They would write a book together about their lives and Ishbel’s Canadian journals would go on to be published as well. 

Since Sunday, March 8th is International Women’s Day, I’d like to acknowledge Ishbel Hamilton-Gordon.  She was a gracious, intelligent, enthusiastic, determined woman, who believed in empowering others and then set about to do just that.  In her old age she would often speaking admiringly of Canada, saying that the young country was able to embrace and implement progressive ideals that more established cultures often struggled with, and that she found great inspiration in us.  This British-born, Scottish-raised, world traveller who lived for over a decade in Ireland, wrote, “I am a Canadian.  I have been a Canadian for a great many years.  I shall always be a Canadian.”  To me, that is proof that the people of this country are most definitely defined by far more than just their geography. Thank you for your work among us, Ishbel.